Financial automated apparatuses such as CDUs (Cash Dispenser Units) or BRMs (Bill Recycling Machines), are collectively referred to as ATMs (Automated Teller Machines). An ATM has been developed to provide financial services without the need of a clerk or bank teller. Using an ATM, most of financial services other than a face-to-face service are available anytime.
In addition to cash deposit/withdrawal function, an ATM provides various functions, such as card processing, bankbook processing, or check accepting, according to the function of a financial service.
Unlike a bill, a variety of characters are printed on a check with a specific magnetic ink. A check acceptor reads out characters, such as a serial number and face value, printed on a check using MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Reader) and then processes the receipt of the check.
To this end, the check acceptor generally includes an insertion unit for receiving a check, a check alignment unit for aligning the inserted check in a predetermined position, a transfer unit for transferring the aligned check, an MICR unit for reading information on the check, a printing unit of a printer that prints on the rear surface of the check a character string transmitted from a top portion of the check, and a storage unit for sequentially stacking and storing checks that have been subjected to an accepting process.
In the conventional check acceptors configured as above, differently from an ATM that in a bundle accepts a predetermined number of sheets of bills through the insertion unit, however, checks should be inserted to the insertion unit one by one, with aligned in a specific direction, so that the checks may be transferred along a predetermined transfer path and stored in the storage unit. That is, a check should be inserted into the insertion unit in a preset direction for insertion operation, which otherwise is not carried out. Moreover, the number of checks to be inserted is limited.
Therefore, a plurality of checks should be inserted over several times, and this causes the check transaction to be time-consuming and inconvenient.
In addition, whereas the size of a check is constant in Korea, in foreign countries, the size of a check differs from another—for example, a personal check personally issued is different in size from a business check issued by a corporation. Accordingly, the conventional check acceptor cannot transact checks of different size.